and the rain fell
by oh-the-linsanity
Summary: modern!au drabble: When Mikasa finds something she wish she hadn't, it's up to Eren and Armin to help pick up the pieces


notes: I'm working on a snk high school au fic and I sidetracked and this happened omfg I don't even know sorry

* * *

Mikasa knocked heavily on Armin's door. She heard the sounds of Eren and Armin's laughter echoing from inside as someone ran to answer the knock. "Hey, it's about time you showed up—whoa." Eren trailed off when he opened the door to the sight of Mikasa soaked to the bone, shivering and shaking. He was quick to pull her inside and shut the door. "Armin, go grab some towels."

"Huh?" was the muffled reply from the couch. He paused the game he was playing and peeked into the foyer. "Oh. Yeah, sure."

As Armin hustled up the stairs, Eren went through the process of slapping Mikasa's hands away as he shrugged off her coat, her scarf, her shoes. "Stop," he chided, each time she tried to stop him. "You're gonna get sick, stubborn-ass," he said gently said before steering her to the living room and setting her on the couch. He crouched in front of her, hands cupping her face as he wiped the stray tears from her cheeks. He tilted her chin up, checking for injuries. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

"I'm not hurt," she whispered as Armin came back with towels and a cup of hot tea. After setting the tea down he grabbed the towel slung around his shoulders and gently began wringing out Mikasa's long hair. Eren took to wrapping the two other towels around her shoulders and legs.

"Okay, what happened, then?" Eren prodded, handing her the tea. But it was no use—she was a zombie, a puppet, eyes blank and teary, body shaking and cold. He grabbed her hands and wrapped them around the mug, anything to give her some warmth.

She just shook her head, hair falling in her eyes. She tucked her bottom lip behind her teeth and choked back a sob.

"Hey, you can tell us, huh?" Armin said gently, combing his fingers through her damp hair and massaging her scalp.

Eren felt his own eyes grow teary at the sight of it all. Mikasa was usually the strongest one; brave and calm in the toughest of situations. But the strength was not instilled since birth, not all of it. She grew that way because she had to. When her parents were murdered in front of her, when he came to find the sight, she was just like this, shaken and broken and so so _sad._

He was afraid of what she had seen.

"Mikasa," Eren whispered, leaning forward to rest his forehead with hers. He closed his eyes. "What happened?"

Suddenly, Eren went rigid when Mikasa grabbed him and pulled him into her lap. She tucked her arms around his waist and buried her face into his shoulder and cried.

Both boys watched, shocked.

"d-dead" She whispered.

The shock intensified.

Eren fidgeted in her lap as he held her closer and leaned to whisper in her ear. "What's dead?" he asked, because the word "who" was too much, even for him.

Mikasa wrapped one arm tighter around Eren while the other hand blindly reached out for Armin's hand, which she found. He gave her calloused palm a gentle squeeze of assurance. "A girl." She whispered.

"A girl?" Armin repeated dumbly.

She heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed her face in Eren's shoulder, wetting his shirt with tears. "Yeah. I was walking home from work but there was this commotion, by the park…all these sirens and police cars so I tried to see what was going and—"

She stopped mid-sentence; it was the first time since her parents had died that Eren had heard Mikasa cry like this.

"God, her _neck _was _twisted_ all the way around, up against that tree…"

"Sshh," Eren soothed, holding her tighter. Beside them, Armin sunk on the couch and joined in the huddle, still holding Mikasa's hand. "Shh, it's alright."

"P-Petra."

Eren froze. "What about her?" he asked playing dumb, _praying_ that this conversation wasn't going where it was going.

"Petra, from school. It was her."

_"Shit." _Armin cursed, uncharacteristically. "Are you sure?"

Eren threw Armin a look, but Mikasa nodded. "I'm sure."

The silence that fell between them was suffocating and uncomfortable, like the wet-clothes Mikasa was still wearing. Eren was starting to shiver from the water soaking through his own clothes, so he knew she was in bad shape. He wanted to tell her to take a shower, go change, and when she came down they'd all watch a movie and laugh and pretend she hadn't seen anything, pretend she hadn't seen yet another person brutally murdered. But they couldn't do that. Mikasa Ackerman had seen far too many murders for anything to go away.

"Mikasa, this wasn't your fault, you know that right?" Eren said.

She didn't respond.

"There was nothing you could have done." Armin chimed in.

"I saw her at school the day before she disappeared, I could have—"

"No." Eren told her firmly, pulling her away from his shoulder, not letting her hide any longer. He held her face in the palms of his hand. "This is not your fault. What happened was awful and terrible, but there was nothing you could have done to help Petra, okay?"

She nodded mutely, but that was not satisfaction enough for Eren.

"Tell me. I want you to say it."

"Eren—"

"You need to, you'll feel better. Come on."

She sighed. "This isn't my fault." She breathed, and even with just that sentence, the boys noticed how her shoulders relaxed considerably.

"Right," Eren pulled Mikasa in for another hug. "Now, go upstairs and take a shower before you catch a damn cold."

"I don't have anything to change into."

"You can borrow my clothes, Mikasa," Armin told her, heading to the kitchen. "Just look through the drawers, take what you'd like. Clean towels are in the linen closet." Eren helped her off the couch.

"And when you come down, Armin's going to have a nice, hot cooked meal for all of us to eat."

"Oi!" Armin complained, but the two already heard pots and pans clattering in the kitchen.

"Okay," Mikasa nodded. She headed up the stairs, but halfway up, she darted back down and crashed into Eren, giving him one last hug. "Thank you, Eren."

He hugged her back, and tilted his head to give her a kiss on the cheek. "You're welcome." He spun her around. "Now hurry up. I'm not taking care of you if you get sick."

"Yes, you would." She challenged, disappearing upstairs.

He smiled.

Yeah, he would.

* * *

notes: ehh, Mikasa's a little out of character, but I think it might happen, given the circumstances. once again, soRRY


End file.
